RANGOON: Burma’s isolationist regime finally gave clearance on Thursday for the first major international airlift of food for survivors of a devastating cyclone after delays that frustrated aid agencies, but US flights remained grounded due to lack of access. The death toll is likely to exceed 100,000, according to a top US diplomat.
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DHAKA: “There should not be any threat perspectives. Bangladesh or India cannot be threats to anyone,” said a former Indian civil servant and politician, Nitish Sengupta, here on Wednesday. Delivering a talk on ‘Bengal divided: the unmaking of a nation,’ Mr. Sengupta, emphasised that the two countries should have more exchanges to resovle issues.
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KATHMANDU: A day after newly appointed Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood called on Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala, the Indian envoy conferred with CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda on Thursday. Both discussed the formation procedures of the next government and possible coordination with political parties.
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NEW DELHI: India will shoulder the initial cost of at least Rs 80 m (about $2-m) to build South Asia’s first regional university, said GS Chadha, the newly appointed chief executive of the institution, which is likely to open in 2010. “Two years is the bare minimum we need, so we are certainly being called upon to work at high speed,” he said.
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NEW DELHI: With a five year-ban on playing for Pakistan and a $3.65 million defamation suit slapped against him by the country’s cricket board chief, fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has his hands full, even by the standards of his tumultuous cricketing career. Is this the end of the road for the pin-up boy, the most recognizable figures of his country?
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